About The Sunrise Project

Driven by a passion to solve the climate crisis, The Sunrise Project is a team of experienced change-makers with a mission to scale social movements to drive the global transition beyond fossil fuels. With affiliated programs and staff in the United States, Europe and Asia, we have developed a unique model of grant making and campaigning that supports networks of organisations to drive powerful change towards our mission.

We have a dynamic and nimble organisational culture. We’re serious about supporting our people to thrive as we tackle the urgent climate challenge.  We believe that a diversity of experiences and perspectives will help us build stronger strategies, teams and movements. We take the broadest possible view of diversity and encourage First Nations/Indigenous people, people of colour, people living outside of cities, people living with disabilities, neurodiverse, and LGBTQIA+ people to apply. We are continually working on becoming a better workplace for everyone.  Find out more here.

About the role

The Senior People Advisor works within the People and Culture team to provide  staff with advisory support across the whole employee lifecycle from onboarding through to offboarding and ongoing HR support, which reflects and highlights our organisational culture and values.  The role is supported by the People team who operate across the globe and work collaboratively to ensure our culture, people and processes are well aligned. The role will lead on providing advice on employee relations issues to all employees and people managers in their regions. 

You will also ensure that staff who are hired and/or paid through PEOs receive the same positive, welcoming and nurturing experience as staff who are employed directly by Sunrise.

You will work closely with the Learning and Development Director and People and Culture team to assist in the design and delivery of areas that drive culture and transformation across Sunrise. This will include overseeing and utilizing our LMS system and supporting leadership development, JEDI, core compliance related areas and any other areas identified as part of learning needs analysis. You will also support the evaluation of our programmes, tools and techniques for delivering learning. 

The role will also lead on developing the curriculum for our organisation wide onboarding programme and materials. 

About You

You have experience of managing a range of HR and People queries and providing advice and guidance in line with employment law. You are comfortable working in third party relationships, and acting as a conduit between internal and external stakeholders to facilitate learning and facilitation relationships.  

You have strong communication and relationship building skills. You are experienced in coaching others and can facilitate learning activities globally across varied cultures and using different technologies. You will be confident and excited about using technology to deliver learning including learning management systems. You are a team player with experience of working in both a generalist advisory people role with some experience of  designing and delivering learning and development programmes. 

Key Responsibilities

Provide generalist people support that will include areas such as: 

• Employee/industrial relations - providing support, advice and guidance on a range of issues including conflict management and working with and escalating when required to our people and culture lead(s) 

• Providing onboarding support and coordinating issue of contracts and any updates to employment for specific for regions that you support

• Providing local hiring support working with the Hiring Advisor as needed, this may include coordination support, quality assuring our process and providing advice to hiring managers.  

• Being first point of call to responds to queries /requests for your regions and escalating as appropriate to People and Culture Lead(s)

• Support the implementation of the JEDI strategy within the regions you work in  

Managing communications between PEOs and Sunrise and their HR leads for Europe based staff (Remote, Safeguard,Velocity) with some support for North American based staff including: 

• Facilitating employee life cycle to facilitate pre-boarding, payroll changes, onboarding and offboarding including exit interviews. 

• Providing the PEO with guidance and updates on employee relations issues e.g. performance management, grievances, workplace health & safety, etc. by investigating issues, evaluating potential solutions and assisting in implementing agreed-upon actions via the PEO.

• Working with PEO’s to seek advice and expertise on labour law legislation and related risks, to ensure that alignment between Sunrise and PEO HR practices is balanced with compliance to local legislation. 

Specialist areas will include: 

Learning and Development 

• Work with the Director of Learning and Development and People and Culture Leads to design, deliver and implement opportunities that are aligned with learning needs 

• Work with Managers to regularly evaluate learning needs analysis and seeking input from L&D Director to design solutions where appropriate

• Support with sourcing, design and delivery of compliance related resources and learning for the organisation 

• Utilize our learning management system to support learning activities and development and maintenance of the LMS 

• Oversee and develop our approach to onboarding globally and lead on the design and implementation of the curriculum, ensuring regular updates are made as we grow 

• Evaluate the effectiveness of learning activities working with the L&D Director to develop a consistent framework 

Other 

• Leads and/or participates in HR-operational related projects, e.g. Intranet, HRIS, program reviews, etc

• Works with P&C Leads to provide relevant data and reports for board and organisation reporting 

Required skills, knowledge and experience    

• A working knowledge of, and experience in a people advisory role, in particular contemporary HR practices and related regulatory/compliance requirements.

• Prior experience (equivalent to 5 years of experience) and success in designing and delivering learning interventions with experience of remote content design and delivery. 

• Knowledge of and experience of applying learning theories and best practices 

• Experience of managing commercial partnerships and relationships with third party suppliers 

• Experience of designing and delivering learning experiences globally taking into consideration JEDI and cultural differences. 

• Experience of using learning technologies, learning management systems and/or virtual learning environments. 

• A high level of emotional intelligence, with advanced communications and engagement skills (rapport building, influencing and trust building).

• Advanced level organisational, time management and administrative skills. Operational focussed project management experience, including competence in using project management tools (ideally Asana, or similar)

• Well developed experience of managing issues and conflict management, troubleshooting and problem solving skills, together with a positive, collaborative approach.

• Experience of facilitation and coaching and implementing coaching programmes (Essential)

• A strong commitment to the principles of justice, equality, diversity and inclusion within the context of developing learning opportunities

• A passion for action on climate change and a commitment to social justice

Job requirements

• Full working rights for the country in which you will be working.  The Sunrise Project is unable to sponsor applicants for employment visas.

• Employment background checks are required.

• Intermittent travel with advanced notice may be required.

How Sunrise supports its staff

The Sunrise Project is committed to creating a workplace that supports our staff to do their best work and develop professionally. Sunrise has the following in place to help us achieve that, noting pro rata will apply for part time staff and/or temporarily appointed-fixed term staff.  The successful candidate will be hired via a Professional Employment Organisation (PEO) on behalf of the Sunrise Project, so conditions of employment may vary.  

• Statutory benefits and entitlements of the country in which you are employed.

• Sunrise may provide additional benefits, where in-country entitlements are less than our standard package, where applicable including:

• Paid Parental Leave that is gender-neutral & inclusive of all types of families, incl. Parental Return To Work & Keeping In Touch Program

• Life Leave (up to 40 days p.a. for significant personal reasons)

• Public Holiday + Cultural Leave

• Workspace Benefits incl: Macbook & accessories, initial $2,000* for home workspace & IT equipment + $800* every 2 years + up to $75/mth phone/data/internet (equivalent local currency) .

• Shared office support

Additionally we offer:

• Flexible Working Policy

• VIDA - An AI tool to support your health and wellbeing

• Regular all-org and team meetings & retreats

• Learning & Development Program incl. a professional development budget for every staff member

• Coaching & manager support with regular 1:1 meetings

• Annual performance & development reviews with 360 feedback

• A co-developed work plan to ensure clarity on your role & key responsibilities

• We provide our staff with a voice on issues that concern them via consultation, caucuses, working groups, and surveys.

How to apply for this job

We recognise that racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, classism and other forms of discrimination creates structural barriers that impact opportunities to formal education and experience.

We are partnering with the team at Kin to help us recruit this position. For any questions, please reach out to Jamie Edmundson (she / her) by emailing jamie.edmundson@kin.co.nz.

You’ll be taken to Be Applied to complete your application.